WASHINGTON INSIGHT

ON THE RUN: Folks watching Vice President Al Gore in recent weeks noticed that the longtime runner was racking up the miles. They speculated that running longer and harder was Gore’s way of dealing with the stress of the ongoing campaign fund-raising probes. In fact, he was secretly training for Sunday’s 22nd annual Marine Corps Marathon. “We decided to keep it quiet and not tell anyone about it,” he confided to a fellow running enthusiast later in the day, adding that he was accompanied by daughters Karenna, 24, and Kristin, 20. Tipper Gore, also a runner, said she was the group’s cheering squad. As for the time it took him to run in a downpour past most of the nation’s best-known monuments--a respectable if less-than-fleet 4 hours, 54 minutes and 20 seconds--Gore joked: “No one told me I only had to run it once.”

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IRON MAN: And if potential rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000 need further evidence that Gore is getting into shape for a different kind of marathon, here’s how the 49-year-old veep spent the rest of a raw, wet Sunday: After showering and eating lunch, he and Tipper got dressed up as werewolves and stood in a receiving line for two hours-plus to greet guests at their annual Halloween party for the media and related munchkins. (Given the elaborate, even controversial costumes donned by the Second Couple in previous years, the Gores’ werewolf look was most notable for its low-key, almost amateurish style.) After yet another change of clothes, Gore showed up that evening at the Kennedy Center for an all-star jazz concert. One day, three events--sounds like a triathlon.

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FAIR GAME: Among the many revelations--some mundane, others of concern to those investigating Democratic fund-raising scandals--of White House videotapes comes further evidence of the commander in chief’s love for the sport of golf. Recently released videotape footage captures this moment, at the outset of a Sept. 7, 1995, fund-raising “coffee” in the White House Map Room: After President Clinton enthuses regarding a recent round played at a premier course, one of the guests seeks an accounting of the president’s performance. “You break 90?” the man asks. “Oh, yeah,” Clinton replies. “I had an 83, 84.” No one asks how many mulligans were taken or putts conceded.

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AMERICA’S WITNESS: Former Clinton advisor and White House aide Harold M. Ickes, who bested Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) and other Republicans in the Senate hearings on Democratic campaign fund-raising practices, is in high demand--as a sort of professional witness. So impressive was Ickes’ performance that several liberal groups have asked the combative lawyer to represent them the next time they are summoned to testify before congressional committees.

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FREEH BROOD: The news that FBI Director Louis J. Freeh and his wife are expecting their sixth child has sparked new rumors that financial pressures of educating the five boys and baby-to-be will force him to leave the bureau before finishing half of his 10-year maximum term. But Freeh, who completed his fourth year in office in September, says he has no plans to leave, and bureau sources detect no sign he’s a short-timer. One official, noting that the FBI is deeply involved in investigating such high-profile matters as campaign fund-raising, insists it would be out of character for him to leave any time soon. “At the earliest, it would be a lull between storms, and I don’t see any breather coming,” one source says. With six kids, chances are Freeh’s wife won’t, either.